Men's Basketball Suffers Exhibition Loss To Panthers

MIAMI, Fla. – The Barry University men’s basketball team dropped an exhibition match to the Florida International University Panthers on Saturday evening at Pharmed Arena, 71-43.

The Bucs started out strong with a seven-point lead within the first four minutes of the game, leading the Panthers 10-3 after three-pointers from Chris Uz and Jeff Willis. However, a 12-2 run over the next 5:40 gave the Panthers a 15-12 lead and they never looked back, closing the period with an additional 17-4 burst that carried them into the locker room up 32-16.

Going into the second period, the Bucs tried to reshape their defense and improve on a first half 24 percent field goal percentage. They did just that, but it wasn’t enough to challenge the Panthers’ shooting percentage at almost 50 percent.

Buccaneer newcomer Jamaal Madyun saw action in the final minutes of the game where he dropped two three-pointers within 0:30 seconds to give the Bucs their final six points and made the final score 71-43.

Barry’s Karega Tucker was the leading scorer in the game with 12 points while both Willie Whitfield and Chad Bishop gathered six rebounds each. Chris Fuller and Kenneth White each had 11 points for the Panthers and Nikola Gacesa came close to a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.

The Bucs were out-rebounded 39-31 and committed 20 turnovers to the Panthers 13.

The Bucs will face the University of Miami in another exhibition match on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 pm at Miami before starting the regular season at the Disney East Tipoff Classic at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orland, Fla., Nov. 9-11.